There are numerous types of exercise devices, and portable exercise devices have become more popular as they provide a convenient alternative to costly health club memberships. There are a wide variety of exercise machines on the market that concentrate or work individual parts of the body, such as abdominal curling apparatuses, arm weights, resistant leg bands, large abdominal exercising balls by way of example only. The majority of these devices however only allow the user to work one part of the body at a time such as the arms or the legs. Furthermore some of these devices although technically portable are not collapsible into an easy travelling size and weight.
Prior art portable exercise devices have been devised to address the some of these issues. For example, United States Patent Appln. No. 2006/0160681 was filed on Jan. 11, 2006 by McBride et al. and relates to a portable workout apparatus comprising a bar, a frame, and a padded structured secured to the frame. The bar is held at an adjustable bar height. The frame supports the bar at the adjustable bar height. The padded structure is secured to the frame, and has a first portion and a second portion. The first and second portions have a deployed position forming a substantially horizontal surface that forms an opening with the bar and the frame that is adapted to accommodate a user. The first portion is further capable of pivoting, relative to the second portion, to a substantially vertical position for storage.
Barrett is the owner of U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,081 which issued on Aug. 29, 2000 and relates to a portable resistance-type exercise apparatus has a hinged, padded platform to support the head and back, a rigid frame including two curved tubes running along either side of the platform, and an elastic cord disposed inside each tube. Each elastic cord has a hand grip for allowing the user to grip the cords securely when doing abdominal exercises. To use the apparatus while doing an abdominal crunch, the user holds onto the hand grips and lifts the torso while pulling the hand grips away from the head and toward the knees at the same time. The resistance provided by the elastic cords increases the effort required to lift the torso, strengthening the abdominal muscles more quickly than conventional abdominal crunches. The apparatus can also be attached upright to a chair for exercising different muscles in the arms, shoulders and back by changing the direction in which the elastic cords are pulled.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,361 which issued on Nov. 30, 1999 to Paoli and relates to a portable, multi-configurable exercise apparatus including a first pair of parallel spaced elongate rigid members having an outer and an inner rigid member and a second pair of parallel spaced elongate rigid members having an outer and an inner rigid member. The first pair of elongate rigid members being coupled to the second pair of elongate rigid members by a pair of elongate guide members parallel spaced and transverse to the first and second pairs of rigid members. The outer and inner rigid members of each pair of rigid members being separated by at least one elastic member for providing variable resistance between each inner member and respective outer member.
Thus a portable, collapsible exercise machine which allows for the user's abdominals and arms to be exercised and is easy to transport and set up is desirable.